SEO and Soccer.

Another project of mine is Red Card Clothing which is a soccer blog I started a few years ago.  My focus is on NASL and MLS clothing. I keep trying to hunt down cool shirts to write about.  The cool thing is the more popular soccer becomes, the more retro items that become available.  Thank the Cosmos, Sounders, Whitecaps, and Timbers for that.

When I moved to Minnesota seven years ago I was lucky enough to connect with a group of soccer fans who were passionate about their team, the Minnesota Thunder.  When the team went bankrupt after 20 years of playing they let their domain lapse.  To make sure that the name didn’t fall into the wrong hands, I spent an obscene amount of money to purchase it at auction to protect the legacy of professional soccer in MN.  Now it’s our job to help tell that story.

The Story of Professional Soccer in Minnesota.

Have you ever had acupuncture?  Neither have I butI’m going to try it out tonight.  Not sure what to expect but I can safely say that I’m not a fan of needles.  Yet I’m really looking forward to trying it.  I’ve heard great things and people swear by it.  I met with Barb, the owner of Merriam Park Acupuncture last week to talk about her WordPress website and what she can do to better optimize it.  After talking about acupuncture with her I’m going to try it for myself.  She’s located right down the street from my house too so it’s super convenient.  If you’re curious you should check it out too.  And since I do what I do for a living, here’s an awesome anchor text link for their site:  St. Paul acupuncture.

Going to do a on-the-fly SEO diagnostics review of sites submitted.  Should be a good time!  Come by and say hello.

The most challenging thing with WordPress SEO is WordPress is such a good CMS and so friendly to SEO that most of the recommendations I can make is keyword focus, title tags, and using the right plugins.  Really, no don’t have to look much further than http://yoast.com/wordpress/ for your SEO plugin needs.

Well, for a few hours at least.

Didn’t score a goal in the game but I think I’m going to put together a video of my near misses.  The team posted a blog about the day and Stars TV will have some video evidence of it all.  I also got to experience magic spray.  No wonder why players roll around so much.  That stuff is awesome!  Can’t wait until next year.  It should be bigger and better.

How do you rank for a very competitive keyword locally?  You do everything you’re suppose to, then wait.  I’ve been working with two really nice people, Pat and Margie, and I’ve been trying to help them promote their business.  They are Minneapolis wedding photographers.  And that’s basically what I’m trying to get them visibility for.  Photographer, photographers, photography.  It’s a challenge but we’re starting to see some success.  The hardest thing for optimizing local is patience.  It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

It’s amazing how much the local ranking factors change and how much they stay the same.  Tactics may change but the overall strategy is pretty consistent.

I finished 9th place in the Raven hunt scavenger hunt.  Won a shirt!  And we’re talking a high quality American Apparel one, not one of those crappy cheap brands.  Very cool little game they had going over the span of a week.

Don’t know Raven tools?  Then you should!  Check them out at  http://raven-seo-tools.com/

This is my dog Memphis.  He likes riding chickens.

I’ve been working on a fun site for a friend. It’s a lawn painting service in California.  What they do is go in and paint dead or dying grass to make it look better.  It’s non-toxic and helps save water.  I don’t know if they’d have enough paint to fix my lawn.  Lucky for me my lawn is covered with 3 feet of snow.

Check them out:  Lawn Paint Pros – Southern California

When you have amazingly talented friends like Lucas Saugen it makes it easy to do creative things.

This pic is an outtake from the 2009-2010 Minnesota Rollergirls trading card shoot.  It’s going to be a business card someday.